Whistling Past The Graveyard

Description for WHISTLING PAST THE GRAVEYARD by Susan Crandall: In the summer of 1963, nine-year-old spitfire Starla Claudelle runs away from her strict grandmother?ÇÖs Mississippi home. Starla hasn?ÇÖt seen her momma since she was three -- that?ÇÖs when Lulu left for Nashville to become a famous singer. Starla?ÇÖs daddy works on an oil rig in the Gulf, so Mamie, with her tsk-tsk sounds and her bitter refrain of ?ǣLord, give me strength,?ǥ is the nearest thing to family Starla has. After being put on restriction yet again for her sassy mouth, Starla is caught sneaking out for the Fourth of July parade. She fears Mamie will make good on her threat to send Starla to reform school, so Starla walks to the outskirts of town, and just keeps walking. . . . If she can get to Nashville and find her momma, then all that she promised will come true: Lulu will be a star. Daddy will come to live in Nashville, too. And her family will be whole and perfect. Walking a lonely country road, Starla a